Rotating disc game device



April 22, 1958 L. F. VINCE ROTATING DISC GAME DEVICE INVENTOR.

LAURENCE f. V/ NC E RLM Z/ A TTOEA/EVS- United States Patent 2,831,691 ROTATING DISC GAME DEVICE Laurence F. Vince, University Heights, Ohio Application November 15, 1954, Serial No. 468,672 1 Claim. 01. 273-142 This invention relates as indicated to a game and, more particularly, to a novel game of general word-building type.

It is a primary object of the invention to provide a word-building game, the play of which involves both chance and skill and is of educational benefit as an aid in increasing vocabulary.

Another object is to provide a word game device of simple and economical construction which is nonetheless highly flexible with regard both to the difiiculty of play and the manner in which the play is conducted. The information derived by chance may be variously employed to attain goals of greater or less difficulty at the I option of the players, while the device may be used with either a small number of players, for example in a home, or with a very large number of participants, such as through the medium of television. In such latter instance, the participants would be the viewing audience or selected ones of the same, the game device providing visual data to be applied by the participants to the selected objectives.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a rotary chance device in a word-building game which aifords a plurality of number and letter combinations in each manipulation thereof.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent 1 as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of my new game device;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the plane of the line 33 in Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the device illustrated comprises a mount or stand, indicated generally at 10, including a base 11, an upright portion 12 connected to the base by hinges 13, and a brace 14. The latter element is connected at its upper end by a hinge 15 to the top of upright 12 and is removably engaged at its lower end with the base adjacent the rear edge of the same. The brace is provided with a tongue 16 at such lower end which is received within a channel stop 17 on the base to form the lower brace connection. It will be seen that the connections of the several parts permit the stand to be collapsed to a substantially fiat condition, thereby to facilitate storage.

Upright 12 has a bevelled edge opening 18 formed in the upper region thereof, and a cylindrical stud member 19 is releasably held in this opening. The body of the stud member is slightly larger in size than the opening and has a shallow groove 20 on its outer surface in which the edge of the opening is engaged to form a snap fit between the stud member and the upright. Outwardly of the plane of the upright, when the stud member is thus attached, the member has a reduced shoulder 21 and an even further reduced end portion 22.

A first disc 23 is freely mounted for rotation on the shoulder 21 of the stud member, the latter being supthe stud member shoulder 21, a groove being formed by the assembly for maintaining disc 23 axially in place.

As illustrated, the second or outer disc 24 is of smaller diameter than the inner or first disc 23, so thatan annular peripheral portion of the latter is visible beyond the periphery of the outer disc when viewed from the front. Such peripheral portion, indicated at 27, bears radial indicia in the form of lines 28 which completely divide the same into segments of'equal size. Within each segment there appears a letter of the English alphabet, this further indicia being designated by reference numeral 29 and shown only over a portion of the larger disc for convenience of illlustration. trated, ninety segments are thus defined, and the individual letters appear varying numbers of times approximately proportional to their relative frequencies of occurrence in ordinary English language. This information is derivable from various encyclopedic sources, such as the New International Encyclopedia.

The smaller outer disc 24 has, on its outer face, a plurality of radial lines 30 completely dividing this face into equal sectors, ten sectors being provided in the illustrated form of the device. The several sectors are consecutively numbered as indicated by the numeral indicia 31. Secured to disc 24, adjacent the outer edge of the same, are radially disposed fingers 32, one finger being associated with each sector and arranged to extend along a radius bisecting the same, with the several fingers projecting beyond the periphery of disc 24 to overlie the visible segmented outer peripheral portion of disc 23 which bears the letter indicia.

There is thus provided a relationship between the numbered sectors of the smaller disc and the letter containing segments of the larger disc, each finger affording a number and letter combination. In operation of the device, the disc 23 is manipulated by hand and a plurality of different number and letter combinations to be used in the play obtained each time the rotated disc comes to rest. In order to slow such rotation and also to insure that the indicating fingers 32 do not come into register with the radial lines forming the outer segments, disc 24 is provided at its rear face with small depressions 33, one being provided for each of the segments and located within the extended area thereof when the fingers are out of alignment with the segment-defining lines. The disc 23 is provided with a number of projections 34 of suitable number, for example three, which engage depressions 33 of disc 24 in substantially nested relation. It will accordingly be seen that the projections 34 serve as friction means operative to decelerate disc 23 when rotated and additionally, by cooperating with depressions 33 of disc 24, as stop means insuring that the fingers 32 do not overlie the segment indicia in the rest conditions of the device.

As illustrative of one manner in which the number and letter combinations derived from manipulation of this In the construction illusdevice may be utilized to construct words, each participant of the game may at the outset be given or select a number of a predetermined order, for example, an eight-unit number. Disc 23 is spun and is gradually slowed by the friction means previously described until it comes to rest in the first position of play. Each participant then notes the letter of the outer disc indicated by the finger of the "words of more than five letters, the maximum award being made if all eight letters comprise a word.

If a player fails to obtain a word by consecutively obtained letters,

beginning with the first, he may be allowed to jumble the letters with the object of forming a single Word of minimum predetermined length, for example, of at least five letters. Only one jumbled word may be permitted and the scoring weighted with regard to the length of the word produced. The first player to reach a set number of total points is declared the winner. The play is facilitated by the proportional repetition of the letters mentioned in the above, which obviously enhances the chances of building words.

It will be understood that the mode of play set forth is subject to considerable variation and that the difiiculty of the game may readily be adapted as desired by the players. Printed tabs bearing number combinations may "be provided or each player may select and record any combination he desires. The structure specifically disclosed is likewise subject to modification without departing from the basic idea of the invention, which may be said to be characterized by the derivation of several different usable combinations in each manipulation or stage of play.

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in the following claim, or the equivalent of such be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

A word-building game comprising a mount adapted to be supported in a substantially vertical stationary condition, a stud member removably atached to said mount and projecting substantially at right angles therefrom, a first disc mounted for rotation on said stud member, a second disc of smaller diameter than said first disc non-rotatably mounted by said stud member coaxially with and in slightly outwardly spaced relation to the first disc, the peripheral portion of the outer face of said first disc lying beyond the periphery of the second disc bearing radial indicia completely dividing the same into segments of equal size, a letter of the English alphabet appearing in each such segment with all letters thus appearing at least once and those more frequently occurring in ordinary language being repeated a number of times respectively approximately proportional to such occurrence thereof, said second disc having radial indicia on its outer face completely dividing such face into equal sectors numbering less than the segments of the first disc, each such sector having a difierent numeral appearing therein, a plurality of fingers secured to said second disc and projecting beyond the periphery thereof to overlie the segmented peripheral portion of the first disc, one such finger being associated with each sector of the second disc and arranged to extend along a radius bisecting the sector, friction means for slowing rotation of the first disc, and stop means operative to bring the first disc when rotated to rest positions in which the fingers overlie segments thereof intermediate the radial indicia respectively defining the same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,542,874 Hampel June 23, 1925 1,752,089 Hynes Mar. 25, 1930 1,964,586 Leland June 26, 1934 2,473,675 Boreszewski June 21, 1949 2,626,156 Bergh Jan. 20,1953 

